The Best of the Week in... Covers (09/23/09)

27 Posted on Sep 24, 2009 in articles by Josh Flanagan |

Covers, covers, covers, there are so many covers. These three are my top three for the week. And in a rare trifecta, all three are from Marvel!

Immortal Weapons #3
Cover by David Aja

I'm not sure how much this one helps sell the book, but if we're talking about beautiful and clean design, you'd have to go a long way to top these Immortal Weapons covers. Me, I'll take David Aja any way I can, and the more I study how clean and simple this is, the more I'm impressed by it. You know what kind of story you're going to get in here, and if you're into samurai stuff, this looks like it might be your new favorite thing

New Avengers #57
Cover by Stuart Immonen

I love this one because of the simple layout that also tells the story, but without giving anything away. Immonen is a veteran, but he's always showing me something new, and I can't help but be impressed by his endless bag of tricks. If you've read the issue, you know what the cover means. If you haven't, it's going to stand out because it's a clean, black cover that favors elegance over busyness. This is such a better cover for me on an Avengers book than a bunch of heroes standing around menacingly by some random painter. Here we have the interior artist doing the cover of the book he's drawing, and it works great.

Wolverine First Class #19
Cover by Skottie Young

One name that comes up very often in this cover roundup is John Cassaday. But right behind him is Skottie Young, and that is not a bad man to be right behind, especially when Skottie is, almost more than anyone in mainstream comics, doing his own thing, his own way. I saw this cover in a preview he posted on Twitter at one point a little while back, and loved it then, and I love it now. The whimsical drawings are fantastic, but even better than that is the production and coloring. It's quite simply wonderful.

Comments

I love the Snake Eyes variant for G.I. Joe #9: http://www.mycomicshop.com/comicbooks/item?IID=19597963 (I'm a total sucker for Snake Eyes.)

I also felt the dichotomy of light and dark on the Detective Comics cover was mesmerizing.

Posted by stuclach on 09/24/09 at 08:57 AM

Love the contrast of the Super Hero Squad logo on the New Avengers cover. We're gonna call that juxtaposition.

Posted by PaulMontgomery on 09/24/09 at 09:12 AM

Invincible and Old Man Logan get my nod.

Posted by zombox on 09/24/09 at 09:26 AM

I specifically looked at Old Man Logan, but in the end, I decided that it didn't really pop in the way that I know McNiven's work can. Logan looks a little stiff, and I also thought it gave away a lot of the story. It wasn't bad, perse, but I couldn't help but feel like it might have been better.

Posted by josh on 09/24/09 at 09:35 AM

Love the Skottie Young cover there, and also 'Detective'. Blending Kate and Alice like that makes a subtle statement about the story and the relationship between the two characters, which might go deeper than it initially seems.

Posted by ohcaroline on 09/24/09 at 09:47 AM

@ohcaroline: I agree. I really enjoyed that and the Superman Secret Origin covers..

Posted by JesTr on 09/24/09 at 09:50 AM

WOW. That's exactly the covers I would have picked. I agreee 100% about the Immortal Weapons covers, they're so simple and perfect. Unfortunatley my Dog Broter #1 is ruined as I fell asleep reading it and woke up with it stuck to my face just now. Damn it.

Avengers #57 - SWEET CHRISTMAS! 'nuff said.

Skottie Young's Wloverine is really well done. At first glance it's just a cute cartoony cover but if you really look at it you see the detail in the smoke/clouds and the way it's lit it amazing. Bravo.

Posted by CHUNK on 09/24/09 at 10:04 AM

I really liked the Blackest Night Superman #2 cover. I thought that the image was very disturbing for a Superman book. Eddy Barrows killed on this issue.

Posted by ato220 on 09/24/09 at 10:06 AM

That Skottie Young is sensational!

Posted by brianmaru on 09/24/09 at 11:56 AM

When I saw the cover of Avengers: The Initiative, I was so excited. Like Middle America, I suppose, I * love* Butterball!

Posted by bansidhewail on 09/24/09 at 01:33 PM

really liked the Supergirl cover this week by Middleton

Posted by wulfstone on 09/24/09 at 01:51 PM

Wolverine Old Man Logan was neglected here. It blows everything else away.

Posted by KickAss on 09/24/09 at 02:03 PM

All the Middleton Supergirl covers have been great!

Posted by josh on 09/24/09 at 02:08 PM

Supergirl?! With the short skirts and girl-on-girl straddling each other action?! To use an iFanboy phrase, "That's just CHEESECAKE!" ;)

Posted by KickAss on 09/24/09 at 02:27 PM

I'm sorry, but Old Man Logan cover looked like goatse to me. If you don't know, please, don't look up what that means, please. Except for KickAss, feel free!

That Skottie Young cover is magnificent. I want it tattooed all over my body, like when you choose 'tiled' instead of 'centered' for your desktop bg... or maybe I'll just make it my desktop bg. The skull and crossbones in a word balloon is just brilliant.

Posted by captbastrd on 09/24/09 at 03:19 PM

HAHAHAHA, you'd compare that art to McNiven?!

Posted by KickAss on 09/24/09 at 03:29 PM

Keep it friendly, keep it productive. Please.

Posted by josh on 09/24/09 at 03:51 PM

Skottie Young for the win. He's been doing amazing covers consistantly for months now.

Wouldnt be surprised if we do a 'Best cover of the year' discussion his name is going to be popping up all over the place.

Posted by TheNextChampion on 09/24/09 at 04:32 PM

@KickAss
No. They're both amazingly good at separate styles of art.

Posted by captbastrd on 09/24/09 at 05:11 PM

Detective is 0-4. Disappointing.

Posted by miyamotofreak on 09/24/09 at 05:54 PM

@miyamotofeeak: I thought it was the best DETECTIVE cover so far. I would have picked it.

Posted by conor on 09/24/09 at 05:55 PM

Alot good ones i thought.the most impressive for me was Hellblazer#259,Simon Bisley is an amazing artist and that creature on Constantine's back is wicked with its syringe stinger on its tail and syringe braids in the hair and then topped off with a TV comin off its back displaying another menacing monster.Skottie Young's First Class was a close second.Third is Steve Lieber's cover on Underground #1, its decieving in its simplicity and very eye-catching for me personally.

Posted by BigNobes on 09/24/09 at 11:35 PM